Nature Blog: red kites a welcome addition to CAT’s wonderful wildlife

From a wildlife perspective, I sometimes think that you would be hard pushed to find a much better working environment than we have here at CAT. Over the eleven years I have been here the amazing diversity of bird, amphibian, mammal, reptile and insect life concentrated into such a relatively small, and when you think about it, quite built up area never ceases to fascinate me. If you keep your eyes open there is almost always something to see – and occasionally something just that little bit special that gives a little boost to the day.

A few days ago my attention was attracted by the cawing of some crows coming from the huge trees bordering the south drive and when I looked up, there circling gracefully high above the top most branches were two magnificent Red Kites, which seemed to be totally absorbed in each other and were ignoring the group of unruly crows which were half-heartedly mobbing them. The two Kites gradually soared higher and higher on out spread, slightly angled wings, occasionally giving a leisurely flap and twitch of their forked tails to alter course marginally, until finally the crows (whose hearts didn’t seem to be in it) gave up and flew off noisily. As the Kites disappeared over the hills, I thought not for the first time, how wonderful it is to be able to see these beautiful birds so regularly, when only about thirty or so years ago they were on the verge of extinction in this country – and also how many other work places could you just lift your head and see such a wonderful sight?